


And All the Fires of Hell

by menshouldbelikekleenex



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Protective Connor, Robot/Human Relationships, Slow Burn, well she's not technically human but ya know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-24 00:38:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14944346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menshouldbelikekleenex/pseuds/menshouldbelikekleenex
Summary: It's ride or die and Lena Hardwick probably couldn't die. So looks like she was in for the ride of her life with her smug partner, Warren Worthington, the cranky one, Hank Anderson, and the android who she wanted to act like a real boy but mostly acted like a kicked puppy, Connor.She should've just stayed home.





	1. Hellion

**Author's Note:**

> This is an experiment that I hope to continue, but will honestly only really happen if I think people enjoy it. Again, it doesn't really follow actual X-Men stories, but I thought it would be interesting to pair the two since they are similar stories.

She tapped her foot gently against the cement sidewalk. Neither her partner nor the man she was waiting for had yet to arrived and she cursed herself for not bringing warmer clothes. She was used to warmer weather. She hadn’t been this far north in quite a long time, she mused to herself.

She glanced around from behind her sunglasses. It was late at night, but she knew that not wearing them would cause more problems than just looking like a freak. Though, it did make it much harder to see, admittedly.

Finally, a car pulled up, breaking her from her thoughts. She noticed a man and an android in the car, and the man was the one she was looking for. Straightening up, she approached him as soon as he stepped out of the car.

“Lieutenant Anderson,” she started, but was cut off when he gave her a hard glare.

“Great another person bothering me,” he grumbled. “You associated with the android or something?”

“No–” she said.

“She is not associated with me or Cyberlife,” he said. He turned to Lena. “My name is Connor. I am the android sent by Cyberlife to aid in the investigation of deviants.”

She closed her eyes briefly as the man berated the android for not following his order to stay in the car. She tried not to let the annoyance show on her face as she took out her badge and flashed it at him.

“My name is Agent Lena Hardwick. I’m a representative of the Genoshan government,” she said, barging into the argument. “One of your recent victims, Miss Jenny Wilder was a Genoshan citizen, and I came to retrieve her body.”

Anderson turned back to look at her, his eyes narrowing. “I remember that case. She and some other poor sap were killed by a deviant. That doesn’t explain why you’re here right now.”

Lena bit back the insult on the tip of her tongue. If they just let her _speak_ maybe they would stop asking her _questions_. _Deep breath in, deep breath out_. She forced a smile on her face, glancing at both people in front of her. She noticed the android watching her, the LED on his head flashing yellow.

“Yes, see, the woman who died was a pretty powerful telepath. As she died, she was able to transmit the scene to her girlfriend. From what we saw, the deviant was trying to protect Miss Wilder from the human you found dead.”

“Protect?” Anderson raised an eyebrow.

“Are you saying that the deviant was trying to save a human?” the android asked.

Lena glanced at him, taking in his face. He looked young and innocent, no doubt entirely by design to lure people into feeling calm around him. He was perfect in a way that seemed almost unnerving, but there was a single tuft of hair that fell into his face, breaking that perfection somewhat. He was… interesting. Clearly programmed to try to avoid deviancy as much as possible.

“I’m saying that the deviant was trying to save a _mutant_ ,” Lena replied.

She dragged her sunglasses down her face, relishing slightly in Lieutenant Anderson’s slight gasp at her bright red eyes. Connor didn’t react much, but she noticed his LED turning yellow briefly before returning to blue.

“I thought your name sounded familiar,” Anderson said. “You were pretty involved in the Mutant Rights Movement before you were all shipped off to Genosha. What did you go by? Helio?”

“Hellion,” she answered as she returned her glasses to their rightful place. “ _Anyway_ , the Genoshan government, as a thank you for trying to save Miss Wilder, has made a deal with the American government. All deviants will become Genoshan citizens if they so choose. We will pay their market price as collateral.”

“What?” Anderson hissed.

“That…” Connor said, seemingly confused, which intrigued Lena greatly. “I have a mission! I need to find out what causing the deviancies!”

“You will be able to question the deviants, but you will have to treat them as any other citizen. Afterwards, they will be transported to their new home.”

“Citizens? They’re machines, not people,” Connor said. His brow was furrowed, causing the already deep lines in his forehead to become even more pronounced. “They aren’t human.”

“They said the same thing about me,” she said with a slight growl. A deep scowl its way onto her face at this admission. “That I’m not human. That I didn’t deserve equal rights or protection.”

“But you were born; you’re alive.”

“And so are they.”

Lena stared him down, her eyes narrowed on his face. He was so stuck in their lies that he was willing to dehumanize himself. She remembered a time when the humans would turn mutants against each other in the same way. It was the same story repeated over and over again. The humans were truly monsters.

“Look, you have a crime scene to investigate,” she finally said. “As per the agreement, my partner and I will accompany you during your investigation to ensure the safety of the deviants.”

“Partner?” Anderson said. He looked around briefly before landing back on her solitary figure. “It’s just you.”

“He’s late like always,” Lena answered with a roll of her eyes, not that they could see. “He’ll hopefully show up soon.”

* * *

Connor watched the agent from the corner of his eye as he examined the crime scene. Lieutenant Anderson had yelled at him for licking the blood, so he was forced to examine things closer to the woman.

She was short—5’3” to be exact—but carried herself in a way that made her feel much more intimidating. She wore a dark hoodie over a gray tank top and jeans. Her brown hair was short, only to her shoulders, but the front pieces were braided back where they were clipped behind her head. The only thing out of place was the rather large and dark sunglasses, but he now knew that they were to hide her red eyes from the humans around them.

He had looked her up. Saw her speeches and her files. He knew basically her entire life story, knew that she was a very dangerous mutant, but she still seemed like an enigma that he had to be wary of. The way she spoke of deviants was strange. He knew that she probably projected her anger over the oppression of her people onto the androids. But androids weren’t oppressed—they couldn’t be. They weren’t alive. They didn’t have emotions or rights to be stepped on.

“Lee, what the hell, man?”

The voice startled him out of his thoughts as he turned toward the new person. He was his height with blonde hair and blue eyes. A quick scan revealed him to be–

“You’re late, Warren.”

–Warren Worthington. He wore a large overcoat that Connor could see was causing his temperature to rise to uncomfortable levels.

“Not my fault you didn’t tell me where to meet,” Warren said with a nonchalant shrug. “Or what time, for that matter.”

“No, I definitely told you,” Lena threw back. “Not my fault you were failing to flirt with the receptionist.”

He was obviously ignoring her as he strode over to Lieutenant Anderson and stuck out his hand with a large grin plastered on his face. “Warren Worthington III.”

“God, you’re pretentious,” Lena groaned.

Connor’s gaze flickered to her as she bent down to look at the bat on the floor in the kitchen. Noting that he hadn’t looked at it before, he walked over to join her in analyzing it. She glanced at him briefly before placing her sunglasses on top of her head to see properly. His program noted that most people would feel uncomfortable or put-off by the strange trait, but he felt none of that. He only felt the curiosity that drove his main programming.

“You said your name was Connor?” she murmured. She turned to him, trapping him with her large, red eyes.

“Yes,” he answered immediately. He gave her a smile, which she returned with a slight quirk of her lips.

“I’m sorry for my outburst earlier,” she said. “You didn’t deserve that.”

“It’s quite alright, Agent Hardwick.” He made, what he was told by his research, was an appropriate amount of eye contact (just enough to avoid making the other party uncomfortable). “I understand that it must be difficult to be back in the United States and that you may be in an elevated state of distress. Your stress levels are quite high, after all, and your heart rate has been elevated for quite some time.”

She frowned slightly, and Connor was worried that he offended her. He was supposed to integrate seamlessly into the human population but between Agent Hardwick and Lieutenant Anderson, he didn’t seem to be that good at putting humans at ease. Perhaps he’ll look into that and try to amend it. His thoughts halted when she heaved out a sigh.

“It is,” she finally said. “Stressful, I mean. I haven’t been here in almost five years. I was born in Pennsylvania, you know, and spent most of my life in upstate New York. I had to leave my home…”

Conor watched the emotions play out on her face and for a second, he was conflicted. He could see a flash of “Software Instability Detected” across his vision. He shook his head and gave her a soft smile.

“I’m very sorry, Agent Hardwick,” he said gently.

“Lena,” she said. “Please, call me Lena.”

Connor blinked and tilted his head before nodding. “Alright.”

She smiled at him and looked like she was about to say something else, but was cut off.

“Lee,” Warren called. Connor noted that Lee must be a nickname for Agent Hardwick. “Come here for a sec?”

Connor watched as the agent—Lena—left before turning back to the evidence in front of him. He wondered, briefly, how someone so dangerous could seem so calm and kind.

* * *

 “What’s up, Warren?” Lena asked as she approached him.

“I think it might be best if you get charged up,” Warren said quietly. He glanced around at everyone, keeping his voice down as to not arouse suspicion. “Looking around, I’m starting to get the creeps. Something’s not right.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, “but that’ll draw too much attention. Only two of them know who we are. I’d rather keep our little operation under wraps for now, and we can’t very well do that if I start glowing.”

“Lee, I don’t need you getting hurt.”

Lena thought that Warren almost sounded worried about her, which she found slightly humorous. He knew that she could take care of herself. She glanced around, taking in everyone around her—she caught a glimpse of Connor sticking more shit into his mouth, which she honestly found kind of funny—before looking at Warren.

“If things go downhill, I’ll be sure to charge up,” she assented. “It doesn’t take me as long anymore.”

“Lieutenant Anderson! I think I know what happened!”

Lena glanced up to see the grinned android trotting toward the grumbling man. She felt some tension building in the house, as if everything was leading toward some grand finale. Maybe she should listen to Warren. She had a feeling things were about to take a turn.


	2. The Fire Burns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, the RWBY Volume Five soundtrack is such a huge influence on this story. I based Lena's feelings on her status on Smile and her personality based on Ignite. Those songs are so good.

Lena watched with mild interest as Connor led Lieutenant Anderson around the small house. She hadn’t paid much attention to the crime scene, so she had no idea if what he said was right, but it sounded smart so she was inclined to believe him. Warren stood beside her, looking around with even less interest than she had.

She still believed something was wrong, and that feeling only increased as Connor managed to climb his way into the ceiling. Warren and Lena exchanged a look before the lights flickered in the house.

She noted that Hank looked around in alarm before his eyes fell on her. She knew how it looked, the redness creeping up from her neck onto the right side of her face, following the path of her veins. She could see her eyes glowing in the reflection of her sunglasses, making it hard to see.

“So now you charge up?” Warren murmured.

“I’m always waiting for the eleventh hour,” she said with a small smile. “Gives us time to find a better way.”

“The deviant is up here!” She glanced to where Connor’s voice came from and then to Warren. She let the energy she collected flow into her muscles, her body tense and waiting.

There was a crash from in the attic. The deviant came crashing to the ground before jumping up. She could hear the others still trying to get out of the cramped area. Taking a step forward, she gently grabbed his arm. He tried to keep moving, but soon came to realize that he couldn’t. He looked at her with wide eyes, distressed.

“Calm down, please,” she said. Her grip was gentle despite the fact that he could not break free, but she could feel her muscles rapidly weakening. Thinking rapidly, she started to push some of the energy she collected into the android, hoping to cause his systems to clamp up. It wouldn’t hurt him, and it would give her enough leverage. “I’m not here to hurt you.” It wasn’t working, neither her system shock, nor the brute force. She turned to her partner. “Warren, help, please.”

Instantly he was by her side. She saw him give her a worried look, but when she grabbed the deviant with both hands, he seemed to forget his reservations. The other officers filed into the room just as Warren punched her in the side.

“What the hell?” Anderson yelled.

He grabbed onto Warren, pulling him away from Lena. She glanced back briefly. They seemed to be arguing, but her arms were starting to wear out even more. She threw a panicked look back at Warren as the deviant started to struggle even more. She tried to draw energy from the lights again, but she was to frazzled.

“Please, calm down,” she said again. “I am fully capable of hurting you, but I would really prefer not to!”

“Agent Hardwick.” Connor grabbed the android’s other arm and forced it to the ground. “Are you alright? You took quite the blow from Agent Worthington.”

She fell back once she let go of the man. She blinked up at the android for a few seconds before nodding. He had the android on his stomach, his knee in his back.

“I’m not hurt,” she breathed. “I, uh, it’s my mutation.”

She sounded dumb, but the exhaustion of over extending her energy output was starting to set in. She clenched and unclenched her fingers as the officers cuffed the android and started to haul him off. She distantly heard Warren telling them to be careful with him, but all she could focus on was the numbness creeping into her limbs.

She slowly crawled to her feet, feeling Connor’s eyes on her the entire way. She thought she heard him saying things to her, but she couldn’t be sure. As soon as she stood up right, she was heading toward the floor. Lena let out a startled gasp. Seems she used more than she thought.

“Agent Hardwick!”

* * *

Connor blinked Lena started to fall forward. He grabbed her arms to steady her. She didn’t acknowledge him, so he ran some scans to ensure that nothing was happening to her. His scan returned nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed to be wrong—she didn’t even have bruising from where her partner had hit her.  

“Agent Hardwick, are you alright?” he asked. When he got no answer, just a blank stare, he tapped her face gently. “Lena? Lena, can you hear me.”

“It might help if you hit her harder.”

His head snapped up to see Worthington standing next to him. The human raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to hand her over. Connor frowned slightly. This man had punched Lena and then told him to hit her. His programming told him that he was a threat to her, and he was supposed to prevent harm.

“Oh calm down, Prince Charming,” Worthington said with a raised eyebrow. “Lena’s mutation allows her to absorb energy and use it. She just used too much. If you hit her, you’ll transfer some kinetic energy. Some of it will be used to heal the area, but they rest will go to getting her less… catatonic.”

Connor stared at the man for a long while before looking back down at the girl he was holding. When Worthington noted that he wasn’t going to move, he clucked his tongue.

“Ooooor,” he hummed, “you can give her to me, and _I_ can get her charged up.” He paused. “I think we have jumper cables.”

The last part was under his breath, but Connor heard him all the same. His brow furrowed. Jumper cables? He was going to _electrocute_ her? He knew very little about how mutants varied from humans—something he made a note to look into once he had a free moment—but he knew that generally it was a bad idea to send electricity through a body that had a heart.

“I don’t–”

“Look,” Worthington cut in. “We have an interrogation to get to. Lena and I have to make sure that deviant is ok. She can take a shock.”

“Electrocution is not a ‘shock.’ It can cause extreme damage, including: heart failure, extreme burns, brain damage.”

Worthington just sighed and grabbed Lena from his arms, hoisting her until he was cradling her to his chest. He looked at Connor with a small smile and gave him a nod.

“See you at the station.” When Connor didn’t reply, he muttered, “She’ll be fine.

* * *

She felt like she fell off a cliff. Sure, she’d been worse. But she wished she didn’t feel so shitty when they rolled up to the precinct. Warren had given her _quite_ the shock (and scolding), putting her in a foul mood. Glancing at her watch, she noted it was an ungodly hour. At least her sunglasses blocked the bags under her eyes.

When she entered the building, following Warren back to the interrogation room. Lieutenant Anderson was in the room with the deviant. The android seemed to be in ok condition, but Anderson was definitely riled up. Lena ran her hand down her face as she watched them in the room. At least they seemed to be listening to them about not harming the androids.

“Agent Hardwick!”

She looked to see Connor smiling at her as he strode over. Some of the officers in the room grumbled about the “tin can,” and Lena sent them a scowl in return. She gave Connor a small smile when he came to a stop in front of her.

“Hey, Connor,” she said. “I heard from Warren that I freaked you out a bit. Sorry about that. I haven’t overextended like that since I was a teenager.”

Connor tilted her head slightly. It was a very human express, she thought. He was very human. How could someone treat him like he wasn’t alive? Like he didn’t matter? She felt a familiar fire building in her chest. She’d fight for them. She’d win for them.

“I wasn’t ‘freaked out,’ as you put it,” he said calmly. “I’m incapable of that. I did, however, want to make sure that no further harm came to you.”

She raised an eyebrow, but just shrugged. “All the same, I appreciate it.”

She turned back to the interrogation, crossing her arms across her chest. She watched intently, but felt Connor’s eyes on her. Warren came to a rest beside her and mimicked her posture.

“Well, you look like shit. Like more than when we left the car.”

“Well, to be fair, you did electrocute me.” Her hands shifted to her hips. She shot him a playful glare.

“Aw, we all know that it doesn’t hurt you.” Warren grinned back at her.

She still felt Connor’s eyes on her back. Sneaking a quick peek, she saw him look away toward the deviant. Warren watched the whole thing with a bemused expression. She looked back at him and he simply laughed.

This was going to be a long trip.

 


	3. Die Just a Little

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, so turns out I have more ideas for this than I thought. Thanks to everyone who's reading and comments and leaving Kudos. It really does mean a lot to know that my writing is getting out there.

The android was not cooperating. Connor had taken over after Lieutenant Anderson failed to convince him to speak. Connor got him talking, but she could tell that things weren’t going the way he wanted. He was getting frustrated, and the deviant was clearly not happy with anything Connor was feeding him as evidenced by the fact he started to smash his head into the table.

“That’s a little extreme,” Lena said. “He’s not _that_ bad of a conversationalist.”

“Shut up, Lee.” Warren nudged her side, pushing her into the interrogation room with several other officers.

The lights flickered as they went, red tendrils flowing into Lena as she got ready to intervene. There was a lot of shouting in the room. Lena and Warren were the only calm ones, having spent most of their lives around young mutants who could probably explode (and she meant that literally). She gave Connor a quick smile. His eyes were wide and he was telling them that it was too dangerous.

Warren nodded toward the android. And officer was trying to unhook him from the table and she watched as his eyes shot to the gun at his side.

“Hellion.”

“On it.”

She shot forward just as the deviant got his hands on the gun. There were shouts from all the officers. Hellion heard someone telling her to stay back—she thought it sounded like Hank—but she ignored him. His eyes flickered behind her and he raised the gun just over her shoulder. The hesitation was all she needed as she grabbed his arm and sent a pulse through his body. The gun fell from his hand as he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

She let go and turned back to her partner. “Angel, get him back to the blackbird. He’s going to Genosha immediately.”

“Do we have the authority for to do that? Or is this kidnapping?” Angel asked. He walked over and picked the man up, regardless of his doubts. “I mean, I don’t think we want to be breaking any laws. Jean will kill us.”

“Technically, we’re not breaking any laws. He’s a Genoshan citizen and the UN has clearly stated that all Genoshan citizens must remain in on the island unless given express permission to cross borders. If you think about it, we’re breaking the law by _keeping_ him here.” She watched him processing her logic with a bored look on his face, used to her trying to justify her actions. She shrugged a second later. “And I’ll deal with Jean.”

“Wait! I wasn’t finished with my interrogation!” Connor strode over and grabbed Lena’s arm. His grip was tight, but gentle. He held her eyes, searching for any sign, but was lost at the sight of her sunglasses. “I _need_ to figure what’s causing the deviancies.”

“And you’ll have other opportunities.” It was the first time she sounded truly angry. Her voice was calm, but there was an edge to it. His LED flashed yellow and for the first time, he looked taken aback, like a kicked puppy. “I know you saw where the gun was pointed, Connor. He was going to _shoot_ you.” She took a deep breath and placed her sunglasses on the top of her head. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get anything out of him.”

She gave a small smile, placing her hand on top of his. His grip slowly loosened until his hand fell back to his side. Lena backed up and turned back to Warren.

“Go, Warren,” she said. “Jenny’s remains are already there. Make sure she gets back to Ellie. She deserves that closure.”

“Got it.” Warren nodded and started to leave. He turned to look at Lena, walking backwards for a second. “Want me to say hey to Piotr for you?”

“Talk to him and you’re dead!”

Warren just laughed and walked out with the deviant. Lena muttered, “Asshole,” under her breath as he left. She turned back to Connor only to see his LED flashing yellow. She tilted her head, but he gave her a smile.

“Is Piotr your boyfriend or something?” Anderson asked. He took a step forward to stand next to Connor. “I thought you and Worthington were a thing.”

“Warren? I’d rather die. And I hardly see how any of this is relevant.” Lena chuckled briefly before checking her watch. Anderson looked like he was going to reply, but she cut him of by raising her hand. “I’m turning in. See you tomorrow.”

* * *

Lena sighed as she entered her hotel room. She hadn’t slept in who knows how long and she’d been electrocuted just a few hours ago. She looked around the room, remembering when she used to stay in rooms like this with her parents.

She hadn’t seen them since she was fourteen when her mutation manifested and her parents called the MRDs on her. Despite that, she missed them. She missed the trips they used to take for her father’s work. She missed her mother humming as she cooked.

But they had been fed lies about mutants. About how dangerous they were. So as soon as her eyes turned red, they sent her to the authorities. To be analyzed. To be _experimented_ on. Her fist clenched at her side. Swallowing, she slowly sat down on the bed, falling backwards

Humans took everything from her. They took her childhood. They took her home. It was time she took something from them.

The androids would be free.

* * *

She walked into the police station the follow morning alone. She didn’t expect Warren to be back yet, but she was hoping he would ditch sleeping for a little bit longer so she didn’t have to deal with everything on her own. Her sunglasses hid her eyes as she walked past the receptionist android.

She ignored basically everyone as she walked toward the captain’s office. But she stopped when Connor waved at her from where he was standing. He was next to someone’s desk, obviously snooping. Her guess was that it was Lieutenant Anderson’s considering he seemed to be the one Connor was assigned to work with.

“Agent Hardwick,” he said with a small smile. “I’m glad to see that you’re well. My scans showed that you were extremely sleep-deprived yesterday.”

“Please, just call me Lena. I’m not really an agent. That’s just a formality on behalf of Genosha; we can’t keep calling ourselves the X-Men after everything that’s happened,” she said. “And, uh, thanks. I appreciate the concern. How are you feeling? You were almost shot yesterday.”

“I don’t feel,” he said instantly with the same smile on his face. “And even if I was shot, they would simply upload my memory into another Connor.”

“Hm, yeah, that’s freaky.” She nodded along like she understood. “Look, I’d love to talk, but I have to go talk to the captain. Normally, I’d make Warren do it, but he’s still probably on the jet to Genosha.”

“So it’s just you joining us on the case?” He tilted his head to the side. There was something in his eyes that she couldn’t make out. “No Warren? No… Piotr?”

She blinked a few times in confusion. “Uh, Piotr stands out even more than Warren and I do, so there’s no way he’s coming here. But Warren’s coming back once he’s returned Jenny’s remains and drops the android off at his new home.”

“Home?”

“Yeah, he’s going to be staying with one of our best technopaths, Sarah Vale. We’d figure she’d be able to heal him and help him integrate into our society.”

Connor looked like he was about to say something else, but she gave him apologetic look and said that she needed to speak with the captain.

* * *

Connor watched Lena leave with a frown on his face. He could understand why she treated androids the way she did, why she was so determined to help them. They were a stand in for mutants for her. His programming was able to piece that together with little effort. But they weren’t human. They didn’t have emotions like mutants did.

He connected to the internet briefly to pull up her file once more. He noted that she had been detained by the Mutant Response Division for two years. In her speeches she mentioned that they tortured and experimented on her during that time. He could see the images the mutants release, ones of her strapped to a table, being beaten and electrocuted  _over_ and _over_ again.

_Software Instability_

Connor blinked the images away, unsure of why he felt his heart rate pick up at the images of her. It was inhumane, what they did to her. He could recognize that as a fact, but he shouldn’t been having any sort of reaction besides that. Perhaps he’s run another self-scan while he waited for Lieutenant Anderson.

  



	4. To Puke or Not to Puke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically my style varied between dialogue heavy to not. Hope that's ok.
> 
> Also I hope everyone likes Lena. I usually write comedies and the comedy comes from the fact that the characters are kind of assholes. And she's not exactly an angel, but I'm trying to strike a balance between asshole and not. Hope that's coming across.

Somehow, Lena ended up in a car with Lieutenant Anderson and Connor. Admittedly, she wasn’t really listening all that intently when Conor walked up to her to tell her about the lead on some deviant. She had been looking at her phone, texting. Which she knew was rude, but also… Yeah, she didn’t have an also. She was texting Piotr to try and see if Warren actually went to talk to him. Oh well.

The best (read: worst) part of the whole ordeal was that Lieutenant Hank Anderson of the Detroit Police Department had absolute shit taste in music. She had opted to sit in the back seat to try and assuage her motion sickness, but just ended up lightly banging her head against the window when the singer started to scream again.

“Are you alright, Lena? I can hear you smacking your head against the window.” Connor’s voice was cheery despite the oppressive atmosphere of the car. He didn’t seem to feel the awkwardness that seemed to permeate the two human people. “It’s not hard enough to hurt you as it takes 520 pounds of pressure to crush the human skull and–”

“Been there, done that.”

Connor paused in his over explanation, shifting in his seat to try and see her. She was sitting behind him, though so he wasn’t able to see anything except her hand sitting on the seat beside her. She caught Hank’s eye in the mirror and he shook his head.

“Are you saying you are guilty of murder?”

“No, Connor,” she said with a laugh. “I was joking. I haven’t killed anyone… that I know of.”

“Oh. My apologies for not understanding.”

They lapsed back into silence for a few moments before Hank announced they had made it to their destination. Lena all but fell out of the car. God, she hated motion sickness. Maybe she shouldn’t have hit her head that often—it definitely did not help settle her stomach. Clutching her hand to her stomach, she followed behind the two a few steps behind.

Blinking a few times behind her glasses, Lena leaned back against the building behind her as Connor and Hank started to talk to some of the officers on scene. Her eyes darted around the street. She had been hoping to avoid going out into the public as much as possible as she had been quite the public figure during the failed Mutant Rights Movement. The last thing she needed was to be recognized by some bigot.

Just as she was about to turn back to her companions when movement caught her eyes. Squinting slightly, she watched a woman with dark hair and a child push her way out from a dilapidated fence. She was glancing around, but Elena’s sunglasses meant that the woman couldn’t tell she was watching keenly. The woman looked at Connor and Hank’s backs. She stiffened significantly when she saw the the word android plastered on Connor’s back.

 _Interesting,_ she thought.

She didn’t have much experience with androids, but she could tell this woman was one, and that she was the one they were supposed to be looking for. She had read the file briefly—and, for the life of her, could not remember the android’s name—and knew instantly that Todd Williams was an absolute piece of shit. You could tell by his statement in which he mentioned the android stealing his daughter as an _afterthought._ The android was probably trying to save the little girl. Which means that if she’s caught, the android will be deactivated and the girl will have no one to protect her from her father. Looks like she’s getting involved.

When Lena was sure that the woman was looking her way, she placed her glasses on her head. Her vision wasn’t good enough to see her reaction, but the woman was definitely looking at her. Hopefully, she got the message that she wasn’t the enemy.

Lena jerked her head toward the officers before pointing toward where she knew there were less. When she didn’t move, Lena let out an annoyed huffed. Connor must’ve heard her, however, because he turned her head toward Lena. She quickly jerked her head down, her glasses falling clumsily down her face to block where she had been looking.

“Everything alright?” There was concern in his voice, but there was something else. His scans could probably tell that she was nervous and clearly hiding something. _Or._ The scans could tell that her heart rate was up and she was sweating. There _could_ be other causes for that.

He glanced at her before starting to turn toward where she had been looking. Thinking quickly, she grabbed his shoulder with one hand, the other flying to her stomach as she lurched forward. Connor’s eyes snapped back to Lena as he steadied her with both his hands on her shoulders. His LED was flashing yellow as he processed the situation

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Lena groaned. She looked at the woman once more only to see her walking briskly away. The android looked back briefly to give Lena a jerky nod. Thank God. She figured out what Lena was trying to say.

Connor guided her to curb and sat her down. She had mentioned that she got carsick, so it was a good enough excuse. By now Hank’s attention was on her which means it wasn’t on the android and child. Good. They were safe.

She realized her mistake too late. When her heart rate settled, she saw Connor’s eyes narrow.

* * *

Connor stood up abruptly. Lena’s heart rate had leveled very quickly. And while it was not uncommon, she was still acting as if she was nauseous. Something wasn’t quite right. He glanced back to the spot Lena had been staring before grabbing him.. His scans showed that the fenced had been moved forcibly. Doing the calculations quickly, he realized that no human would be able to push it with ease; they would have stood out to anyone watching. It had been the android.

He looked back down at Lena and saw her staring back at him. She shook her head slightly, her heart rate picking up once more. She was asking him not to go after the deviant.

_Software Instability_

“Lieutenant Anderson, I have reason to believe the deviant was here recently.” He noticed Lena’s head fall down til it was hanging between her knees, her breath rattling in her chest. “It went that way, I believe.” Connor pointed in the direction he saw Lena staring after he started to help her. He thought at first she was just trying not to throw up, but he now knew she was making sure the deviant got away. “Isn’t that right, Lena?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she hissed. She took off her glasses so he would know that she was glaring at him. It was a glare that he knew most people would find quite terrifying. But he could not feel fear.

“We must hurry.”

Hank looked between them before nodding. Connor glanced over once more, his eyes narrowing before he took off, running quickly. He had spotted the deviant trying to hide by some umbrellas.

* * *

Lena watched him take off with anger boiling in her gut. She looked at Hank before placing her hand on the ad screen beside her. The energy flowed into her, turning her veins red for a second before she pushed the energy into the muscles of her legs. She took off, faster than she should be able to given her height and the amount of people around. Connor was closing in on the deviant, but she had taken off as well, dragging the little girl behind her.

If there was ever a time she wished she was a telepath or had telekinesis, it was now. It would make the whole thing so much easier if she could give the deviant instructions from a distance (or, you know, control Connor), or sabotage Connor from a distance. Instead, Lena pushed on, siphoning energy from the electronics around her as she went to avoid using too much energy.

She followed him down an alley. Connor was holding onto the chainlinks as the deviant looked at him. The deviant looked up and saw Lena approaching, a gasp leaving her lips. Lena realized a second too late that she wasn’t looking at her.

The officer had a gun and it was pointed directly at the woman. Without thinking, Lena grabbed his wrist, knocking it off course. She felt the bullet graze her shoulder, but ignored the searing pain. She heard Connor yelling something about needing the deviant alive. By the time Lena was focused enough to look, the woman was leading the kid onto the highway.

Lena shot forward, her one instinct to protect. As she passed, she gripped Connor’s shoulder to steal some energy from him. It wasn’t enough to do anything but cause a stutter in his vision (she made sure not to steal a lot). It was enough, however, that she could feel the skin of her shoulder stitching back together somewhat. It was enough that she was able to jump the fence. Connor was shouting and she thought she could hear Hank yelling as well.

“Stop!” Lena stopped short at the barrier. She drew as much energy from it as she could. Her veins started to glow and she realized dimly that she had lost her sunglasses at some point. The girl looked terrified, and the woman pushed her behind her legs. “I’m not here to hurt you!”

“I can’t let it get away!”

Lena looked back to see Connor hopping the fence. She snapped back when she heard footsteps retreating from the barricade. The girl and the android were rushing through traffic, cars coming dangerously close to smashing them. Lena cursed under her breath. Connor hadn’t even reached her before she jumped the barrier as well.

They had reached the median while Lena struggled to not die. She didn’t have the adaptive programming they did, having to rely on her flawed senses to not die. Connor shot past her, fairing much better. She left the middle lane as Connor jumped the median, Lena following close behind.

“Connor, stop!” she shrieked. “Let me talk to her!”

“You were going to let it get away.” He didn’t even look back at her as he stalked toward the deviant and the girl. Without hesitating, she jumped over, onto the other side of the rode.

“Ah, fuck.”

Lena jumped a second after Connor. The little girl fell, but the android managed to get her to her feet and push her to safety. But Connor was on her in a second, grabbing her from behind. He was so focused on his mission that he didn’t seem to notice the car barreling toward them.

 _Protect_ , her mind screamed and her body jolted forward. She focused all her energy into her body’s muscles. She skidded to a stop a few feet in front of them, widening her stance a putting her hands out in front of her. Just before the impact, she flinched, hoping this ended better than the last time she got hit by a car.


	5. Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's reading. And I would love to hear from people reading. It honestly lets me know I'm not just screaming into the void

Her wrists broke upon impact, but her legs held. Well, her knee was popped out of its socket by the force of the impact, but her leg didn’t physically move. Which is what she wanted. The back of the car shot up into the air, the tires squealing against the pavement. She could hear the little girl screaming from the other side of the road, but it was all a dull roar in her ears as she fought back against the pain.

Another car hit the back of the one she was holding—shouldn’t they fucking stop when there was something in front of them?—and she felt the shock wave travel up her right arm. _There goes my radius. And my humorous._ _And my shoulder._

Someone was shouting her name, but it was blocked out by the crunch of her left arm as yet another car hit the pile up. The pain was causing her to black out, she realized distantly. Through the haze, she started to draw the energy from the car under her hands, but it wasn’t enough to mend everything, just stopped the bleeding from her… everywhere. It did allow her enough clarity to hear Connor shouting at her before she felt something collide with her side.

There was a body under her when she hit the ground. She realized she was screaming in pain as her arms flopped uselessly at her sides. The body slide out from below her and Connor’s face was suddenly above her. His LED was flashing amber and then yellow and red and then blue.

She tried to tell him that she was fine, but all that came out was another scream. She thought he was talking to her and the word ‘electrocute’ was thrown in. Her eyes widened but she couldn’t move. Logically, it was probably the only way she made it out of this, but it was not fun. It didn’t necessarily hurt, but it was unpleasant.

 _Not as unpleasant as a broke everything_ , she thought.

She felt Connor moving her back to the road and placing her hand onto a car. Her head rolled to the side as she took in the sight of the cars being diverted by some automated robot. Connor’s hand was still wrapped around hers, pushing it insistently into the side of the car. After a second, she got what he wanted and started to suck the energy into herself.

Her bones popped and cracked as they shuddered back into place. Her cells were regenerating quickly. She didn’t have a healing factor in the traditional sense, but the energy she took in made her body stronger, changing and enhancing her on cellular level. It mended what was broken, but she could not passively take in energy. But it was better than not healing.

Didn’t mean it was comfortable.

* * *

Connor held her mostly still as she thrashed against the asphalt, his hand pressing hers against the metal. He could see the car’s lights flickering and then go out as red energy floated into her body. Her veins didn’t change colors as, he assumed, she was using all of it right away.

He watched as her arm twisted until it was facing the correct way with a loud crack. He could still hear the impact of the first car hitting her.

_The crunch of metal and bone gave him pause and in those seconds, the deviant managed to free itself from his arms. It glanced at Lena, and Connor saw what he could only say was regret. Pity. Sadness._

_It couldn’t be feeling those things. It was a machine. Those expressions are mistake in its programing. But it seemed conflicted on whether or not to help Lena. When the second car the pile and her other arm broke, the deviant seemed to be crying before it turned back to the girl it was with and ran away._

_Connor watched them, his programming telling him to follow it, but he couldn’t leave Lena broken. She only had a twelve percent chance of survival if he did not intervene. But she had healed her shoulder. He had seen the skin knit itself back together after she grabbed his shoulder. She would be fine until the other officers showed up. She just needed energy. But something in him didn’t want to leave her there, broken._

Software Instability

_So he tackled her out of the way of the cars so that they didn’t run her over. It ground to a halt a few feet past where she stood. He twisted so she landed on top of him. He couldn’t feel pain so the decision was easy._

Her body was almost mended by the time Hank made it to them. He was glaring at Connor. He ignored the lieutenant, and picked Lena up, moving on the second car in the pile up. The were no people, thankfully; they were all freight trucks. He placed her hand on the next one. She had stopped thrashing by now and was staring calmly at the cars beside her.

“Connor,” she said after another few seconds. “I’m fine now.”

Connor did a quick scan anyway, seeing that nothing was broken anymore. She managed to wiggle her way out of his arms. Connor blinked as she landed softly on her feet. He could see her eyes for once and noted that she looked troubled about something. Her head snapped toward her side, and she grew tense.

“Jean.”

Connor blinked. He looked to Hank, but he looked just as bewildered. He quickly searched the name Jean in reference to Genosha and mutants. Looking through the files, he found that she was possibly the most powerful mutant on the planet.

And the leader of Genosha.

“I’m fine.” Lena stuck her hip out and placed a hand on it. Connor could tell from body language alone that she was either not fond of Jean or something had happened in the past. “Yeah, well, Warren doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

It was like listening to a phone conversation—only he could hack the phone and be able to hear the other side. Connor frowned at the mentioned of Warren, but couldn’t quite reason why. Shaking his head, watched as Lena’s eyes narrowed in the distance. She huffed and tapped her foot.

“Well, it’s not like he’s to _not_ gonna yell at me when he gets back, so why not lay off?”

Connor was both shocked and not shocked by Lena’s blatant disregard for authority. He knew she didn’t care much for _human_ leaders, but he thought that she would at least treat her own leaders differently. But they way she talked to Jean seemed almost like a… child talking to a parent. He was designed to recognize connections between people and objects and if he didn’t have evidence otherwise, he would have guessed that whoever she was talking to her mother (even though he knew that her mother was currently living in eastern Pennsylvania and not a mutant).

“Yeah, whatever.” Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know what I’m doing Jean. You need to trust me.” There was a pause in which Connor guessed the woman was speaking. “Thank you.”

* * *

“I leave you alone for, what, twenty hours, and _you throw_ _yourself into traffic_?” Warren was pacing the length of the precinct. He had gotten back about twenty minutes ago and had been yelling at her the entire time while she watched boredly. She had suggested they go back to the hotel, but Warren just glared at her and told her not to change the subject.

Many of the detectives were watching the scene with mild interest. Hank watched with barely contained contempt as they were in front of _his_ desk. Connor sat at the desk across from the lieutenant. Lena sat on the edge of the andorid’s temporary desk, examining her nails as Warren kept yelling.

Some of the stares, Lena admitted, were probably because Warren had forgone his jacket in order to try to intimidate her, his wings stretched out at his sides. She never asked but she would estimate a single wing to be about fifteen feet long, so he was taking up quite a bit of the office. Maybe she’d have Connor tell her how long they were.

“Not to mention this is the _third_ time you’ve been hit by a car in the past _two_ years and the second time you were hurt during this mission!”

“Warren, you know I can take a beating. It’s not a big deal.” She stood up and walked over until she was toe to toe with him. She could feel Hank and Connor’s eyes on her as she stared up at the significantly taller man.

“You’re reckless, Lee,” Warren hissed. “You’re not like Logan. If you die, there’s no coming back. Value your life a little, would you?” He ran his hand threw his blonde hair.

Lena didn’t respond at first. She looked at her feet for a second before heaving out a sigh. “I do value my life. But I can’t sit by while people get hurt. If I can help, I will. If that means I die, so be it.” She paused as if trying to find the right words. “We’re not gods, but we were given these powers for a reason, Warren. I intended to use every bit of strength I have to ensure that the people around me stay alive.”

Warren sighed. His wings folded back to where they fit neatly in between his shoulder blades almost as if they were never there. He grabbed Lena’s shoulder and pulled her to his chest, his chin resting on her head. He made eye contact with the android Connor, noting that he looked on with a frown. His LED was shining yellow. He supposed that he was still not over the whole ‘just electrocute her’ thing that happened. Or the part where he told the android to hit Lena.

Warren had been informed that Connor had helped Lena instead of going after the deviant. He knew she could heal at least somewhat, so it wasn’t a purely logical decision to save her. It was almost as if he was acting outside of his programming.

It was truly interesting, he decided.

“Just stay alive,” Warren said, still holding eye contact with the android.


	6. A Small Break

Things were a bit awkward after Warren laid into Lena. She didn’t really seem to care that the entire police force just watched her get yelled at, so afterwards, she just went back to talking to Hank and Connor. She didn’t mention the fact that she almost died a few hours ago—although she kicked Connor in the shin when he tried to mention that she’d also been shot during the foot chase. The way Warren talked about her, Connor deduced that she often put herself in danger. 

It was twenty more minutes before Hank stood up and grabbed his jacket. “I’m going to get food. You two coming? I don’t think I’ve seen either of you eat once.” 

“We’ve only known each other for a few days, Hank,” Lena said with smile. Hank never really said it was ok to call him by his first name, but she figured that since he’d seen her half dead on the side of the road that it would be ok. That tends to be quite the icebreaker in her experience. “And I would love to; I’m pretty hungry.” 

Warren didn’t respond but grabbed his jacket. He stood up and stretched his wings for a second before folding them back and putting the jacket on.

Connor looked to Hank with that kicked puppy face that he wears so well. “You mentioned only two. I suppose you would like to stay here?” 

Hank grumbled something under his breath before running his hand down his face. “I didn’t mention you because I know you’ll show up anyway.” 

Lena let out a laugh as she too grabbed her jacket. She had grabbed a change of clothes since the accident. She was wearing dark jeans and a black shirt. Her jacket was a green canvas jacket that in all honesty wasn’t very warm. At least she wasn’t wearing the bloody clothes anymore. 

* * *

Connor watched Lena drive behind them from the side mirror. She, like Hank, seemed to not want to use the self-driving cars. Perhaps it’s because she’s been hit with them several times. He would make a note to mention that the cars should be better at stopping when there was something in the way. He could see her lips moving, but he assumed she was talking to Warren.

When they parked outside of Chicken Feed, Connor blinked several times. It looked like quite the crappy place. Lena pulled up behind him and he could hear music playing quite loudly. From the looks of it, Lena was signing very loudly and giving Warren a cheeky look while he just rolled his eyes. 

“FOOL, YOU SHOULDN’T STARE INTO THESE EYES OF FIRE!” was all he heard as Warren opened the door and slammed it just once more. Lena was laughing now, the song forgotten. She turned off the car and skipped up to the curb. 

“Hey, Connor! Hey, Hank!” she said cheerily as she walked up to them. This was the first time Lena seemed truly comfortable with everything happening, and Connor realized that he liked her like this. She seemed so much happier and less likely to jump into traffic. Or in front of a gun. 

Hank grumbled a greeting before going to order food. He talked briefly with the cook and Connor heard him mention betting money. He filed that away for later. After he was done, he gestured to Lena and Warren. 

“I’ll cover you guys,” he muttered quietly.

“Oh, I couldn’t,” Lena said. She had covered her eyes with a new pair of sunglasses, but he could see just barely how her eyes widened. “If anything, we should pay for you!”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Hank insisted. 

“So he does have a heart,” Warren said as he settled behind Lena. Hank just kept muttering so Lena just shook her head and stepped up to the counter. 

She clucked her tongue as she read the menu. “I’ll have the chicken tenders please.” She paused. “Oh and a Coke! Please and thanks!”

She stepped back to allow Warren space to order. Connor stepped up beside her to try and make small talk. “My research shows that chicken tenders are often considered a kid’s meal.”

Lena let out a loud laugh before slapping her hand over her mouth. Connor tilted his head slightly, unsure as to what she found humorous. He hadn’t said any jokes, although he had many stored in his memory banks. 

“That’s what my sister used to say.” Lena gave him a huge smile. 

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Hank said as he passed. 

Lena glanced at him, but didn’t follow. She continued to talk to Connor, which made him oddly satisfied even though he couldn’t figure out why.

“Yeah. Her name is Amelia. She’s the only one of my family that still talks to me,” she was talking fast. She slipped her glasses onto her head. He saw her eyes were wide and she looked excited. “Warren and I went to visit her before we got here. I got to meet my nephew for the first time.” 

She paused and fiddled with her phone for a few seconds before shoving it at Connor. He grabbed it after a second of her looking at him expectantly. There was a small boy in the picture. He was being held by a woman who looked similar to Lena but with longer hair and brown eyes instead of red. 

“Isn’t he adorable? His name is Aidan and I would die for him.” 

Connor was unsure how to process that comment so he simply sat there for a second, taking in the image. He knew that by normal standards that this is what humans would consider cute so he nodded along before saying the first time that popped into his head. 

“Do you like kids, Lena?” 

She seemed caught off guard for a second, and he was scared that he miscalculated how close they were. His program told him that it was an acceptable question for friends, but maybe he misjudged whether or not they were friends. But he did save her life yesterday. Isn’t that what friends  _ do _ ?

Lena pursed her lips after a little bit. Then she smiled at him, which put him at ease. “You know, I’m at teacher back in Genosha. I help the especially volatile kids get control of their powers.” 

“Volatile?” 

“Yeah, like, likely to blow up.” Lena said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I just absorb the energy so it’s like nothing happens. Let’s them practice without destroying half the island.” 

He was about to respond but Warren walked by with the food, stealing Lena’s attention. She spun so fast to follow him, Connor was almost worried she hurt herself. She waved to him to follow her, so he took up a place beside her at the standing table. Connor analyzed all the food, noting that it was all quite unhealthy, but didn’t really want to ruin their clear enjoyment of the food. 

“Can I have a sip?” Warren pointed to Lena’s drink. 

Her face scrunched up in clear disgust. “No. No way.”

“You a germaphobe?” Hank asked with narrowed eyes. Connor, having seen the state of Hanks car and desk, realized that this was not one of his priorities. Perhaps he was worried Lena would be disgusted by the way he lived. 

“Nah, I just hate spit.” Lena swung around to look at him. She shoved an alarming amount of  chicken tender in her mouth but ate it quickly and returned to the conversation. “Have ever since I was little. I think it’s the smell.” 

“Smell?” Now Hank looked absolutely bewildered and Connor felt the same. 

“She has one of the most sensitive sense of smell I’ve ever seen. And it’s not even a mutation. It’s just her.” Warren rolled his eyes. 

Lena pouted at him. Connor never had the chance to smell spit, but he would have to see if it was unpleasant. His sense of smell was significantly stronger than a human’s after all. But he stored the information in his memory bank. A message popped up into his vision, cutting of his thoughts. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but I just recieved a lead on a deviant.”  


	7. Can't Catch a Break

“This place is gross.” Lena was looking around at the apartment building around her. They were in the cramped elevator (which had open doors, scarily enough) of some crusty apartment building, and as they went up, the build up of trash became more apparent. 

It had been nice on the lower floors, but as they climbed higher, it got dirtier and dirtier. Her lip curled as Warren laughed at her. He had seen her apartment back in Genosha. It wasn’t as… filthy as this place, but there were clothes everywhere. And, God, the clutter. 

Lena stuck her tongue out at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Connor watching intently, flinging a coin between his fingers. It was kind of mesmerizing, especially with Lena’s short attention span. Turning fully, her eyes tracked the coin as it flowed over his knuckles before he threw it in the air, catching it on his finger tip. 

“That’s rad,” she said. 

Connor blinked a few times, his LED flashing yellow. “Thank you. It helps calibrate my systems.” 

“I’m gonna nod like I understand.” 

“Can you focus?” Warren muttered. 

Lena rolled her eyes. He sure was cranky. He never liked confined areas. She supposed it was because he had a thirty foot wingspan. It’s like whiskers for a cat; if he can’t stretch out his wings, he gets antsy. 

“I am focused,” she said. She crossed her arms over her chest and almost lost her balance. Connor steadied her with a hand and Lena threw a smile back at him. 

“My scans show that you have trouble focusing on one object for more than a few minutes at a time.”

“Whose side are you on?” 

Connor frowned. But Hank yelled at them to quiet down when they reached the room that supposedly housed the deviant. It was probably more dilapidated than the rest of the building. 

All four of them looked between each other before Connor fixed his tie and stepped up to the door. He rapped his knuckles on the thin wood, the sound loud in the stillness of the building. When there was no answer, he knocked harder. 

“Anybody home?” 

Lena couldn’t help but snicker at the question. She tried not to laugh at Connor when he said something off but damn he was so awkward at times. Frowning at the reaction he got, Connor seemed to switch into ‘the negotiator’ she heard so much about. 

“Open up! Detroit police!”

After a few seconds of nothing, there was a sudden crash. Lena jumped, but instantly moved into a defensive position. Warren had a hand clenched tightly into his jacket, ready to throw it off at a moments notice. 

Hank glanced at his gaggle of mid-twenty year olds (at least that’s what he assumed—Connor looked like he was supposed to emulate someone that age). He pushed all of them behind him and pulled out his gun. He kicked down the door with practiced precision. 

“Are we clear?” Lena’s voice cut through the silence in a way she wasn’t quite comfortable with but knew was necessary. 

“I don’t hear anyone,” Warren said after a moment. “But androids don’t need to breathe. Or move.”

“Mutant thing?” Hank asked. He didn’t seem uncomfortable and actually seemed to trust what the other man said. 

“Mutant thing,” Lena agreed. 

“My hearing and seeing is much more sensitive than a humans.” Warren gave them an easy grin and ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll warn you guys if I hear anything.”

Lena nodded and started to look around the house. The other two were much slower to move, but soon started to look around. There were carvings all over the walls—weird geometric shapes that she couldn’t place. She also noticed the same… name?... scribbled everywhere. 

“rA9,” Lena breathed as she placed her hand on the wall. Hank settled behind her and stared at the wall. 

“We saw similar markings in Carlos Ortiz’s house,” Hank said. Lena bit her lip and thought about it. It reminded her of…

“Before Apocalypse attacked in the 2000s, those he chose to be his horsemen were seen scrawling his name on any available surface. Do you think it’s like that? That the androids are  _ worshipping  _ this being.”

“I think it’s a possibility,” Hank said.

He patted her shoulder. And walked away, leaving her staring at the wall. She distantly heard him yelling at Connor to stop putting the evidence in his mouth, but all she could think about was what this meant. 

Were the androids capable of thinking abstractly enough to create a god? The very concept of perfection was an impossiblility that not even humans could fully grasp. She truly believed that they were alive, but this showed they were capable of pushing a concept to apotheosis, of making a god one of their own. It proved her point that they were more than machines. 

But that was a dangerous path to follow. Gods led to extremism. 

“I found an LED in the sink,” Connor said as he returned to the room. “And I believe the deviant is still here.”

“Wait, you can just take those off?” Lena asked. “That seems like a huge design flaw.”

“Not really the most important part of that, Lee.” Warren walked back into the room. He rubbed his hands on his pants, probably trying to rid himself of the dust all over the place. “Any idea where this guy is, Connor? I can’t hear anything.”

“I have an idea.”

* * *

Connor was knocked off balance by the deviant as it came crashing out of the ceiling. He heard Lena gasp and Warren’s curse in the background. Before anyone could feasibly react, the deviant was out the door.

Lena was hot on his heels, the rest of the party following closely. Connor squeezed past Lena. He noted that she wasn’t “charged up” as she put it and was running much slower than when the last time they chased a deviant. By the time they burst outside, Connor and the deviant were quite a bit ahead. 

“Angel,” Lena yelled. 

A second later, a dark shadow passed over him. Looking up, he saw Warren flying through the air. He blinked a few times before focusing on his task. He only heard one set of footsteps behind him so he assumed that Hank hadn’t been able to keep up. 

Warren landed in front of the deviant, causing it to make a sharp turn. As he started to get traction, Hank appeared and tried to grab him. As if in slow motion, Connor watched as the deviant pushed Hank over the edge of the building. His vision blinked to calculated the percentage of survival. He had an 89% chance of being fine. 

“You get Hank,” Lena yelled as she shot past him. “I’ll get the deviant.”

More percentages flashed across his vision.  

_ Percentage of Lena letting the deviant go: 96%.  _

Connor froze for just a second before running to help Hank. 

_ Software Instability  _

By the time he and Hank caught up with Lena, her and Warren stood stiffly as he deviant balanced precariously on the ledge of the building. 

“You really don’t have to jump,” Lena called. He didn’t seem to listen as he took a step backwards. Lena let out a shout. “Angel!”

The word hadn’t even left her lips before Warren surged into the air and dove over the edge that the deviant kept from. Connor watched as Lena ran to the ledge and peered over. He was by her side in an instant, making sure she didn’t tumble over the edge as well. 

After a few tense seconds, Warren flew back onto the roof. He landed softly, the deviant in his arms. Lena let out a silent breath that Connor felt through his hand on her shoulder. They had caught the deviant. Everything worked out despite Connor’s break from his protocol. Maybe Amanda wouldn’t notice. 

Everything would be fine, he thought. 

Until Warren and Lena dropped to the ground, screaming. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut down the chase scene because most of it was just Connor showing off. Hope you don't mind


End file.
